Leeds United's five best high-pressing players suited to heavy-metal football; any surprise names on the list?

New Leeds United head coach Uwe Rosler says he wants to bring 'heavy metal football' to Elland Road, but do they have the players to pull it off?

Rosler, speaking to the club's official website after his appointment, explained he wanted a high pressing game to turn defence into attack.

He said: "I’m very interested in having a lot of quick attempts on goal and it is very important for me where you win the ball.

"I play a high pressing game to force the opposition into mistakes and playing the ball into areas where we can attack quick."

This served Rosler well at Brentford and for the first half of his Wigan tenure, and he will busy identifying which players are best suited to helping him achieve this at Leeds.

We have extracted the data from the past Championship season which shows how many times individual players won the ball back in their attacking third; in front of the opposition goal.

Here are the top five best 'high pressing' Leeds players according to Opta data...

Possession won in attacking third

Appearances

Alex Mowatt

19

38

Billy Sharp

16

33

Sam Byram

14

39

Souleymane Doukara

11

25

Mirco Antenucci

10

36

Breakthrough midfielder Alex Mowatt was superb all round last season, and it is no surprise to see him topping yet another statistical category.

Sam Byram's high place on the list suggests there is a case to keep him in midfield rather than defence, as that's where he can best fit into Uwe Rosler's philosophy.

The remaining 'top five' are three strikers, but with one notable absentee. Steve Morison, noted for his hard work up front, places below Billy Sharp, Mirco Antenucci, and surprisingly Souleymane Doukara who was ostracised in the latter months by head coach Neil Redfearn.

Morison won the ball back seven times, and it may well be that combined with having a weaker goal output that each of the trio, he finds himself out of the side, and Sharp gets a new lease of life.

There is one concern though for Leeds, and that is that of all the teams in the Championship, this is a category they rated poorly in.

Play-off side Ipswich won the ball back more times in the final third than any other, while Leeds ranked 21st of 24 sides.

Dan Coombs

Dan Coombs has been writing for HITC Sport full time since 2012 and has helped the website grow it's audience considerably during this period, while managing a team of writers. He has interviewed high profile names including Stuart Pearce and his work has been cited in Javier Hernandez's biography. In addition to football, Dan is a big fan of the NFL and NBA.